Drum Machine suggestions?

Gear & Tools Talk 🔊 Amplification & Effects
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I’d like to get an inexpensive drum machine to give me some nice backgrounds that are more complete/complex than a metronome. I don’t have a mixer or MIDI device and don’t want to have to get one. I’m unfamiliar with how the drum machines work, but I’d like something that I can just play through my amp for me to accompany. Any suggestions for an inexpensive, but functional one? $150-250 would be nice as a price range.

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Just curious if you have an iPhone or iPad. They have the GarageBand app and there is a drum machine on there. I haven’t messed with it much but I think Justin recently mentioned it in one of his videos

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Brilliant. I have it, but have never used it so time to break out the GarageBand manual rather than the wallet to get a drum machine!!

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Hey William,

I use an app called Loopz, available on Android and Apple. Great drum machine, realistic sounds, with over 80 different styles, tempo adjusting etc. Slick interface, simple to use, highly rated.
From memory, it cost about $5AUS. You can download if free to check it out. Made by Paul Davids, a well known and respected guitarist/teacher.
Well worth a look.

Cheers,
Shane

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Thanks, Shane.

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GarageBand is full featured DAW, has lots of different drum options, and is free on iOS and iPadOS. But for me, it was too complex…I just want to quickly find a beat for practice or jamming.

These apps are not free, but worth the money, IMO.

For playing songs, I like Drumbeats+. User interface is kind of clunky, but you can save your favourites under a song name at the correct BPM. (Note they try to sell you a monthly subscription when you install it…you don’t need this…it comes with lots of good beats for the app price)

Comes with lots of nice sounding drum grooves in a variety of genres, and some good training grooves as well.

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/drum-beats-rhythm-machine/id461218759

For technical practice, I find Pro Metronome the best. I don’t like the standard click-click or beep-beep sounds most metronome apps use, but this one also includes some real drum samples, which I find much more motivating when bringing things up to tempo, nailing the timing on a tricky passage, etc.

It’s also really easy to add hi-hat sounds on the 8ths and 16ths, which is super helpful sometimes.

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/pro-metronome-tempo-beat-subdivision-polyrhythm/id477960671

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Thanks for these suggestions and descriptions. I’ll check them out.